Win a Scholarship to the Best Writing Course for Business Owners

Damn Fine Words is the writing course changing the game for business owners around the world. It teaches people better writing skills and effective content-creation techniques that cut down writing time, boost confidence and how to write in a way that works. Articles, ebooks, blog posts, website copy, even day-to-day emails… you name it.

Students who take the course consistently report becoming faster, better, more confident writers, able to generate all the content their business needs, using an easy wash, rinse, repeat system.

The Damn Fine Words writing course opens to new students on February 3, and first class begins February 10. If you’re a small business owner, a freelancer or an entrepreneur, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this opportunity to learn writing skills that make 2014 your best year ever.

Each time I prepare for a new session, I open up the DFW writing contest. Many people tell me they wish they could register for the course, because if they could just get in…

… they’d finally have the skills to write engaging website copy that pulls in much-needed clients.

…they could make more money, instead of guessing at what to write and struggling to get words out on the page.

…they could feel excited and happy about writing for their business for the first time in their lives, instead of agonizing over every word.

I want to help make that change happen.

The Damn Fine Words Writing Contest:

This contest is a friendly competition where your sincerity, desire to learn, and motivation to succeed counts more than anything. This contest isn’t about the quality of your writing so much as the quality of your determination … and what you would do if you could improve your writing skills.

Editor’s note: The contest is officially closed as of January 29, 2014, 7am (eastern time zone).

What You Can Win:

One person will win a full scholarship to the February 2014 session of Damn Fine Words (retail value $1,399). The first runner-up will win a 50% scholarship applicable to their registration for the February session.

The course lasts 10 weeks, and both winners become full-access students who benefit from the lessons, hands-on exercises, immediately applicable advice, interactive members-only area, and my personal support and feedback throughout the entire course.

What You Need to Do:

Write an article or a blog post about why writing is important to your business success. Why becoming a better, faster, more confident writer could literally change your life. What would change in your business if you had better writing skills. How not feeling sure about your writing skills has affected your business, and what it would mean to you to have that obstacle swept away.

In other words, write about why it’s important for you to be in the Damn Fine Words writing course.

Your blog post or article should be at least 450 words. (This isn’t a brevity contest, after all.)

Your blog post or article must be posted to a publicly-viewable location. No private entries will be accepted.

Come back here and leave a comment that links to your post.

Pat yourself on the back.

That’s all.

There are no points given for correct grammar or spelling. There are no points given for fancy words or brilliant prose. In fact, there are no points given for the quality of writing at all.

I’m looking for two people whose businesses have a better chance at success because they committed themselves to improving their content-creation skills. I want to work with people who are driven to succeed and who understand that this writing course could take their business to the next level. I want students who are dedicated to showing up every day and doing their very best.

I’m looking for people who are ready, willing and able to commit to their self-improvement. You don’t need pretty language or finely-honed writing to convey that. Trust me – I’ll see it.

The contest closes January 29, 2014 at 7am (eastern time zone). I’ll select two winning posts and contact winners directly, so be sure to have a Contact page on your site or let me know your email address in some other way.

Ready? Get writing!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an expert copywriter and the owner of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, Nike sneakers and ice skating.

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Join the Discussion. Click Here to Leave a Comment.

This looks like a fantastic course and a great opportunity for business owners to sharpen up their writing skills. Although I am not in a position to enter, I thought I would give you a response regardless.

I think a course of this nature is invaluable for a business owner or blogger ( or anyone that uses the Internet) In the day and age of social media and streaming videos writing is still the fastest and most effective way to get your message out to the world.

If you own a blog or business, the majority of your posts or actions is an advertisement. The point of adverts are to get attention, and cause some sort of a action ( such as a sale).

Sometimes you only get one chance, make sure it counts.

To be more effective with your advertising it makes sense to get your point across more effectively, improving your writing skills is the best way to do that.

The fastest way to lose someone’s interest on the net is to waste their time. People are time poor and have short attention spans so make sure you are saying the right thing the right way.

Of course there is a little bit more to great advertising than just great copy but having great copy is can be the difference between a moderately successful advert and a great one.

The bottom line is – in today’s world, with all the digital clutter standing out is harder than ever, but the same principles that worked 100 years ago still apply today, punchy headlines, well written copy, engaging stories still work wonders.

Creating quality content is the number one priority for most online businesses, and to be able to do that quickly and effortlessly is a fantastic advantage.

That’s my 2 cents as to why being a better writer is a great advantage for an online business owner or blogger, I feel that courses like yours are a sure fire investment for just about anyone.

Thank you for that James I really appreciate it 🙂 I totally agree with your idea about it being career security. I am not one of your students, in fact I’m not much of a writer but I do love advertising.

I’m sure you are aware of how important good copy is when it comes to adverts but it just so happens to be that most business or blogging activities online are adverts for something.

It literally pays to be a good writer 😀

Thanks James for the great articles, I look forward to seeing who makes the cut for this competition and your future work!

Hi James! Thanks so much for the opportunity to win a scholarship for your awesome course! I’m learning more and more each day just how critical great writing is to my business. It’s not yet a core competency of mine – but I’m optimistic that it will be as a result of taking this course. Here’s the link to my entry for the essay contest:

It’s the Year of the Horse in the Chinese astrological calendar. I’m a horse, ergo, 2014’s the year of me (here’s hoping anyway!). I’ve found writing my entry to be quite cathartic and motivational – I’ll be doing the course regardless but this has really helped me hone my focus and think about what I want and why. So if nothing else James, thanks for the opportunity to do that!

James,
Thank you so much for the opportunity to win a scholarship to this amazing course. As you may know, I’ve emailed you several times in search for the answers on how to launch my career as a copywriter. I was just laid off last month. A product of cutbacks to the television news industry. If I get this scholarship, I feel I will be well on my way to launching my new career as a copywriter. Thank you for all your help along the way. I’m sure we’ll speak again.
Best,
Janice Salvador

And squeaking in with a few hours to spare whilst the Northern Hemisphere is tucked up in bed is my entry to the Damn Fine Words Writing Course Scholarship contest. All the way from Sydney, Australia. Not that distance makes an iota of difference in this online world. Although the time difference did allow me a few daylight hours today to pull my entry together.

Thanks again James for the opportunity. Maybe one day I can afford to do the course, but for now, I have certainly enjoyed the process of writing an entry.

The contest is now officially closed, as of January 29, 2014 at 7am (eastern time zone). All entries who made it in before the cutoff will be considered for a scholarship – and I do want to applaud everyone for entering. That says a lot right there!

The panel of judges and I will select two winning posts and contact winners directly on or before February 3. Good look, everyone!

Thanks for participating, everyone, and it’s time to make the official announcement:

Jennifer Syme, you’ve won a full scholarship to the Damn Fine Words writing course – congratulations! And congratulations as well to Dave Tran, who made the runner-up position. You both did a great job of showing the panel of judges and I that you have the dedication to work hard and use the course to both better your business and your life – as well as pay it forward.

To all who entered, I do want to say that the panel of judges and I had a very, very tough time choosing the winning entries, and more so than usual. Everyone put their best foot forward and showed dedication and commitment. You should definitely feel proud of your entries, and we highly encourage you to stick with the goals you wrote about in each one.

Jennifer Syme, and Dave Tran congratulations!
I have been squirreling away my pennies hoping to join this course, my nuts are low so I guess I’ll see you guys for the next chance at this scholarship. Have fun and learn all you can. Congratulations on your win!

Start Your Novel

The Damn Fine Words writing contest is open to anyone - writers-for-hire, freelancers, small business owners, the self-employed, and entrepreneurs, in any career field or type of industry.
Get contest details, rules and more right here.
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